Crush it! Review – Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion

“How much for a glass?” I asked.
“1 $.” The girl behind the makeshift stand replied, smiling.

She was so cute. Blond hair, probably about 12 years old. She stood there with her friend, a few meters from the entrance of the supermarket. I had just done my little shopping and persuaded my friend to join me for a glass of lemonade. I wasn’t particularly thirsty but loved the entrepreneurial spirit glowing on these 2 kids’ faces. Heck, I think it was Friday and they could have come home and play the Wii or watch TV just like their peers, yet they’d chosen to work hard, or hustle, for their money.

The blond girl slipped the coins into her piggy bank and poured us 2 glasses of lemonade with mint leaves. Although the drink wasn’t cold enough it was one of the tastiest lemon drinks I’d ever had…

Image credit: Amy Gizienski

Which reminds me of another person who put Dale Carnegie’s phrase If life gives you lemons, make lemonade into a practical test… Life may have not given him too many lemons in the negative sense of the word, but at the age of 8 Gary Vaynerchuk had 7 lemonade stands scattered around his New Jersey neighborhood, in full swing. Just imagine a little boy, his pockets jam-packed with coins and dollar notes, roaring around on his Big Wheel to collect his cash. Yes, Gary had become a young business owner before he had the guts to ride a bike…

Could this explain that contagious energy, that passion, that fire burning inside the wine-expert-turned-social-media-sensation?

Much, much has been written on Crush it!
Many reviews have been posted on blogs and sites across the web and over 500 reviews adorn Amazon.com alone.

Although Gary Vaynerchuk’s first book was written 2 years ago, I believe it still makes a useful read.

Update: Now you can win Crush it! and 39 other awesome books for entrepreneurs. more details here.

Here’s what this book is not:

• Finely written nonfiction. Gary is not a natural-born writer, nor does he claim to be. But he is a gifted speaker and presenter, which is the reason he chose video as his key blogging platform and used a tape-recorder to dictate Crush it!.
• An in-depth How to guide or a detailed step-by-step plan on how to build your personal brand on social media. To be fair, I was expecting Gary to elaborate more on the technical side of things. His action plan sounds good, but unless you’re a complete social media newbie, you’re in for major disappointment as the How to parts here are too simplified as well as out of date. OK, not completely irrelevant but so much has evolved in the social space over the last 2 years which would probably make any 2009 social media guide look dated. Therefore, seeking traffic and blogging advice in forums and active blogs would make much more sense.

Here’s what this book is:

• An insightful biography of a successful, self-made multi-millionaire. I was particularly impressed by his childhood details where you can really see how the entrepreneur inside him was forming. That’s where his beliefs in hard work, gratitude and customer care were taking shape as he saw his father succeeding in the family business.
• A no-excuses Take Action manifest of a person who’s truly passionate about his message. This book really seems like the essence of what Gary believes in, of how important it is to ‘follow your DNA’ and be true to your passion, to create a community around your personal brand, to work hard and care for your customers and a lot more. I’ve  been dying to do this book… Gary writes, …because it drives me crazy to know that there are still people out there who haven’t figured out that they don’t have to settle. Indeed, while reading the book it felt to me like Gary had had that fire burning inside him which he couldn’t contain anymore and had to get out to the masses.
  You’d be crazy to read it through without taking action.
• A book that is likely to break a few myths that might have held you back. Examples:
• There’s no point in starting an online business if my passion is not dating, weight loss or dog training
  
• Spending 8 hours a day answering emails is an utter waste of time
  
• Why would I give a s*** about one unsatisfied customer if all the rest are happy?
  
• Why work hard when you can run all your business on autopilot?
• A great motivational book from a person who has ‘been there’. Gary’s amazing energy is evident as you read the book. If you’ve ever heard Gary speak I’m sure you realize how passionate he is about what he talks. This book is no difference. In fact, that was the main reason I bought it. I wanted to soak more of his powerful energy.

Maybe a nice way to sum up this article would be to go back to Amazon.com.
Right now, a review by Julie S.C.Y tops the Costumer Review section. It was one of the few negative ones (most reviews were 4 & 5 stars) and although it was written back in 2009, Julie’s review has caused a tremendous stir in the comments section, so much so that comments on it are still trickling in today.

In short, Julie had looked forward to Crush it! but was let down.
She blames Gary for using the book as a PR tool and a personal sales pitch. Well, as I’ve explained before, there is a lot about Gary in this book. But I’ve found it to be a positive thing though. Having the chance to get an intimate encounter with Gary’s childhood, his insights, his vision and success fundamentals fascinated me. True, these are more or less the same things you would hear him speak about in his videos and keynotes, but here they are much more in-depth. Also, if you read between the lines you’d get a lot of business insight from Gary’s descriptions of his childhood baseball card ventures, his work at the wine shop as a teenager and a lot more.

Gary describes himself in Crush it! as a ‘walking contradiction’. He really believes in himself but then he’s humble and talks about how unimportant he really is. He couldn’t care less what other people think but he does respect people and pays attention to what they say.

And pay attention he does. One of the comments Gary wrote back to Julie goes:
…I really am sad that you think its a PR piece, that would be the last thing I would want to do, I just wanted to write what I knew, which is what I did! I hope we get to meet in person and please understand I respect your thoughts for sure! …

How about you?

Have you read Crush it!?

What do you think about Gary Vaynerchuk and his business philosophy?

Are you pursuing your passion online?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments…

If you liked this review, why not share the love by tweeting it, sharing it on Facebook, digging it or stumbling it? Thanks…

Update: Now you can win Crush it! and 39 other awesome books for entrepreneurs. more details here.